The Wolf and his Friends
by Meanders01
Summary: The Avengers are in their fifth year at Hogwarts, but all is not well. Dark forces are stirring, and each of them has their own private battle to face.
1. Prologue - The Sorting

**Prologue**

"Good evening, students. I am Professor Hill. Let the sorting ceremony commence!" Her voice echoed around the hall, and the gaggle of first years shifted uncomfortably. The Sorting Hat's song had done little to calm their nerves, and the noise of the student's applause at the end had helped little.

"Banner, Bruce!"  
The boy paled, and sat on the very edge of the stall. He'd been silent all journey, and had even looked a little green when the train first set off. However, the hat had barely been placed on his head when "RAVENCLAW!" reverberated around the room.

"Barton, Clint!"  
Clint, who was loud, noisy and rather silly sat on the stall for what seemed like eternity, his eyes narrowed the students in front of him. Finally though, there was a shout of : "HUFFLEPUFF!" and a roar went up from the yellow and black table. He sat down uncomfortably, glancing at one of the other first years as he did so.

"Odinson, Loki!"  
Loki, black haired plastered back, had a look of intense concentration on his face as he sat down. He seemed less than sure what he was doing there at all, and sat sulkily on the seat. The hat took a reasonable time with him, also, but eventually decided upon "SLYTHERIN!"

"Odinson, Thor!"  
Thor, a large boy with shoulder length golden hair made his way up to the stage with confidence, and it took but a second for the hat to decide on "HUFFLEPUFF!". Thor sat down on the table with a humble sort of grin at his brother.

"Parker, Peter!" was next.  
The hat took a long time over the tall, skinny kid, a very long time. Peter sat there, an anxious expression flickering across his face again and again. Eventually though, a cry of "RAVENCLAW!" echoed, and a triumphant look settled.

"Rogers, Steve!"  
A tiny boy, blond and pale was sworn into "GRYFFINDOR!, the hat taking just a moment to decide, and was given a hearty punch on the arm by Thor as he sat down. The boy winced.

"Romanoff, Natasha."  
This was the only girl of the group, pretty and very red haired. She sat down on the stall neatly, and again took several moments. However, eventually a shout of "SLYTHERIN" sounded, and she got up. Clint strained to catch her eye, but she didn't turn round.

Finally, "Stark, Tony." was called.  
He again took a little while, but at last "RAVENCLAW!" sounded, and the dark haired boy sat next to Bruce, exuding confidence. Under the table he stretched his legs out, and looked expectantly towards the headmaster's table.

The headmaster, Professor Fury, got slowly to his feet. He was tall and black, but the most noticeable thing about him was his eyes. One was normal, but the other was glass, the iris a vile shade of purple which did in no way correspond to the other half of its pair. It was held to his head by a leather strap, and rolled and twitched in the casing.

Holding his hands behind his back, he moved to in front of the table, and stood behind a large podium which had melted upwards from the ground.  
"Ahem. Welcome." He shifted. "Let the feast begin." He clapped his hands together, and a spread of food appeared down the centre of the table. There was a pause, and then, as one, the student body began their eating.

Later that night, content and full, they wound their way back to their dormitories. The moon, full and shining reflected on the lake. Apart from the occasional bubble as the giant squid slumbered, it was still. Except, down by its edge, a large animal, panicked and angry, pounded around the waters edge, throwing up splashes, away from home for the first time.


	2. Peter Discovers A New Skill

**Fifth Year**

"Come and see this!" yelled Peter, his voice carrying out of the Ravenclaw fifth year's dormitory and into the corridor outside where Tony and Bruce were having a hushed conversation.

He was initially ignored, but after he called again, Bruce pushed Tony into the room the three of them shared.

Peter was on his bed, crouched and excited. One side of the four poster was clear and normal, but the other was all laced up with what looked like spiderwebs, creating a thin and slightly shimmering wall.

Tony slumped down onto his bed. "You," he drawled "Are an idiot. We did that ages ago. Fourth year charms."

"But look," exclaimed Peter, bouncing up and down slightly on the balls of his feet. "No wand!"

He flicked his wrist and a thread of the stuff sprang out of the air. Bruce dodged to the side, and Peter cackled. Tony grimaced.

There was a pause.

"I'm hungry," said Peter, after a moment, springing lightly onto the floor. "I'm gonna get myself some breakfast."

"First lesson is only ten minutes away," Bruce called after him, but Peter was off, and working his way down from the Ravenclaw tower to the breakfast hall. It was almost empty when he reached, but he grabbed a handy platter of pancakes and sat down next to Romanoff, a Slytherin girl of the same year.

"This isn't your table, Parker," she said lazily, and spread marmite thickly onto her toast.

Peter shrugged, his mouth full of pancake.

"Hey, is Stark playing tomorrow?" She put down the knife and looked at Peter with narrowed eyes. He shrugged again.

"Dunno. Prob'ly not." He swallowed. "He only plays important matches."

"Hmm." Romanoff had gone back to her marmite toast; she'd cut it into four rectangles, and was eating each one in quick, deft mouthfuls. After a moment, she stood up and gave her robes a quick brush to remove any possible crumbs. "Well, bye, Parker. See you in transfiguration."

"'Kay," replied Peter, through a mouthful.

A moment later, the bell rang, and Peter stood up quickly. He still had a few pancakes left, but it was Herbology first; he ought to be able to eat the remaining few. He kept the platter to hold them on too; they always seemed to disappear eventually, where ever they were stowed.

He began the walk alone, but seeing a large blond boy only a little in front of him, Peter began a fast jog, and caught up.

"Hey Thor!"

"Good morning, Parker! How are you?"

"Fine, thanks." Thor's formal way of talking – especially when coupled with his crazy enthusiasm – could be a bit over bearing, but you got used to it. Strangely, his brother, whilst still sophisticated in speech, had a little more tact and poise when it came to his language. Shame he was such a creepy oddball in other respects.

There was a moment of silence, but Thor was one of those who always felt the need to fill it.

"Are you going to see the Quidditch match tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I guess. If I wake up. You?"

"Oh yes. I look forward to it. I hope Jane does well." Jane Porter was Thor's possible girlfriend (Peter had never heard it confirmed). She was in the year below.

"Yeah." Reluctant to be treated to a summary of Jane's numerous abilities, amazing though they were – Thor had given Peter this talk before – Peter changed the subject. "Guess what I can do!"

"What?"

"Guess!"

"Magic?" The sad thing was, there was no tone of jest in Thor's voice; it was a genuine suggestion.

"No! Well, yeah, but no."

"I don't understand-"

"Just look, okay?" Peter did that thing with his wrist; he wasn't exactly sure what it was, and a stream of the spiderweb stuff appeared.

"Impressive. It looks very strong."

"Yeah, it is, I guess."

They'd reached the greenhouses. There were only four of them in the class; their year was unusually small anyway, and people didn't exactly run to study plants. These four were Peter, Thor, Bruce (Peter's roommate) and a well-mannered boy named Steve. He had been small, to go with his politeness, but he'd grown crazy much in the past few years, and it was now slightly daunting how big he was. Still nice though.

The lesson passed unremarkably, and the four made their way up to the next lesson together; Transfiguration, which their whole year had together. The teacher, Professor Hill watched them as they entered. Peter found his seat at the back of the classroom, on a desk of his own.

"Good morning," said the Professor, once there was silence. She wasn't overly strict, unless provoked, so the aim was not to do so. There was a mumbled response.

"Today," she continued "We are going to look at turning an large animal into a completely unrelated object. You ought to know how to do so from last lesson. Then, however, we are going to try and turn it back. I know we're recapping fairly basic, second or third year magic, but it's harder than it seems, and we'll build on these skills."

At the front of the room was an array of trays, full of jars of huge insects, a couple of snakes and a birdcage with a few birds inside. Next to these was a dial. It was blank, and only had one hand. However, on its golden rim was a large button, also gold.

"When you come up and get your creature, you press this, and what it comes up with, you've got to try and make," said Professor Hill. "Go."

She turned away from the class, and they swarmed towards the desk. Peter picked up a tarantula, just snatching it from Romanoff's hand.

"Spider buddies!" said he, raising his hand for a hive-five or something. She glowered at him for a moment, and moved on.


End file.
